Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
05/18/12
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL: OBAMA ADDS ‘CLEAN COAL’ TO ENERGY LIST
President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign sparked a stream of criticism after it quietly added ‘clean coal’ to a list of preferred energy policies on the campaign website late last week following criticism from House Republicans. A tab on ‘clean coal’ was added to a list of oil, natural gas, biofuels, wind, solar and nuclear as a component of Obama’s “all-of-the-above” energy strategy on Obama’s campaign website. “President Obama has a real strategy to take control of our energy future and finally reduce our dependence on foreign oil—an all-of-the above approach to developing all our energy resources,” the website says. The energy page touts Obama’s 10-year goals for deploying ‘clean coal’ technologies like carbon capture and storage, and highlights the 22 CCS projects being funded in part by Recovery Act funds.
The change came a day after House Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) highlighted that coal was missing from Obama’s website during a hearing on power grid reliability. Whitfield said he was “disturbed” by the omission, particularly given President’s promotion of his “all-of-the-above” strategy that aims to harness both renewables and fossil fuels. “This Administration has been openly in the business of putting coal out of business, and for the President to go running around talking about an ‘all-of-the-above’ energy policy, even on his campaign website, and to not mention coal as an important energy sector is unbelievable to me,” Whitfield said.
Opponents Rush To Capitalize on Change
Opponents of the President’s energy policies said the omission of ‘clean coal’ on his campaign website is indicative of what they describe as the Administration’s “war on coal.” Republicans on Capitol Hill said the quick addition of the coal tab was simply pandering to win over votes in coal states during a key election season. “The president’s waffling on coal policy isn’t new news. The president has gradually been erasing coal from his energy vision over the course of his term. Once touting the U.S as the ‘Saudi Arabia of coal,’ President Obama has seldom even mentioned coal in any of his recent energy speeches,” a House Energy and Commerce press release said this week. “It may be politically convenient for the president to pay lip service to coal, but his actions speak differently.”
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), one of the Senate’s most vocal coal advocates, said Americans “should not be surprised” by the move. “The linchpin of his energy strategy is to pursue policies that disadvantage time-tested, affordable, reliable energy products derived from our abundant, domestic resources of coal and other fossil fuels,” he said. The campaign of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was also quick to capitalize on the situation. “[Obama is] making it harder and harder to get coal mines and coal used in this country, and yet he says he’s for ‘all of the above,” Romney reportedly said at a campaign event May 11.
White House Defends Coal Plan
Meanwhile, the White House defended President Obama’s coal policies, arguing that he has been supportive as coal for as long as he has been in office. In a pair of speeches this week, White House energy adviser Heather Zichal highlighted the Administration’s R&D work in the sector via programs like the Department of Energy’s Clean Coal Power Initiative, adding that employment in the mining industry is at a 15-year high. Support of from voters in coal states is especially important for the Obama Administration as it looks to court votes in battleground states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia that all have large coal industries. Obama suffered an embarrassing showing in the West Virginia Democratic primary last week against a jailed felon, who garnered nearly 43 percent of votes against the President. The results were considered in part a commentary on Obama’s coal policies.
ACCCE Rolls Out New Campaign
The series of events prompted many opponents of Obama’s coal policies to action, using the instance as a rallying call particularly against the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent policies affecting coal-fired power. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a trade association comprised of coal companies, rolled out a new campaign calling for people to speak out against many of the regulations. It differentiated between Obama the presidential candidate, who in 2008 and now in 2012 promoted the benefits of ‘clean coal,’ and Obama the President, who they said has actively pushed against the use of the energy source via policies like cap-and-trade and EPA’s proposed emissions performance standards for new coal units. “The President’s rhetoric is right but his EPA’s new rules are not. Now is the time to end EPA’s job-destroying war on coal,” a new ACCCE ad says.
